Research:Age certificates

The BBFC has an important job which is to advise and protect viewers from moving images. Provide public information that empowers them (and parents) to make appropriate viewing decisions for themselves and those in their care. They help to protect vulnerable viewers and society from the bad consequences of viewing potentially harmful or unsuitable content while respecting adult freedom of choice. They do this by categorizing certain films into certain age certificates depending on how offensive the content may be.

The U symbol stands for Universal. A U film should be suitable for audiences aged four years and over. However, it is impossible to predict what might upset a particular child, especially at this lower end of the category range. At U we only allow very mild bad language (eg ‘damn’ and ‘hell’). Occasionally, bad language such as ‘bloody’ or ‘bugger’ may be included, where justified by the context.
Characters may be seen kissing or cuddling and there may be references to sexual behavior (‘making love’). However, there will be no overt focus on sexual behavior  language or innuendo. An example of a film rated U is Horrid Henry.

PG stands for Parental Guidance. This means a film is suitable for general viewing, but some scenes may be unsuitable for younger children. A PG film should not disturb a child aged around eight or older. Parents should consider whether the content might upset younger or more sensitive children.

The 12 certificate means anyone under the age of 12 cannot watch that specific film as it may upset or disturb the child.

12A means that anyone aged 12 or over can go and see the film however parents are advised to see if the film is suitable for their child. The A stands for 'accompanied' and 'advisory'. Children younger than 12 may see the film if they are accompanied by an adult (e.g someone 

over the age of 18), who must watch the film with them. 12A started when the first Spiderman film came out. this happened because there was lots of complaints of the film being to violent and unsuitable for under 12 years. as a result of this the BBFC decided to rate the film a 12 however this affected children which caused more complaints because in fact Spiderman was a comic hero that children looked up too which made it unfair for them not to watch it. So final the BBFC made the decition of creating 12A which ment the child could watch the film if under 12 but had to be accompanied by an 18+ adult.

No-one under 15 is allowed to see a film of this rating as it may upset them.15 rated works are not suitable for children under 15 years of age.

Films rated 18 is the last film rating in the UK and are for adults. No-one under 18 is allowed to see an 18 film at the cinema or buy/rent an 18 rated DVD. No 18 rated works are suitable for children as they contain heavy violence, drug use, criminal offence and sexual assault. An example of an 18 rated film is scream.